Hearing of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction - Organizational Meeting

Statement

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Madam Co-Chair:

I appreciate and am humbled, by to join you and our colleagues on this Joint Select Committee. As I mentioned in my Op-Ed piece, which was published in the Washington Post earlier this week, the enthusiastic reaction of my constituents and others has caused me to reflect upon having grown up in a parsonage. Despite the expectations of us, we are not the "chosen 12."

I enter these deliberations with a clear vision, an open mind and a willingness to find common ground. I have always said that if the distance between my opponents and me is five steps, I don't mind taking three of them.

I am hopeful that we will not allow our political differences to get in the way of economic common sense and duties to God and country. Getting people back to work is the quickest way to restore confidence in us as an elective body and the country as a land of opportunity.

Last month, I held a town hall meeting on the campus of Voorhees College in Bamberg County, South Carolina. That county has an unemployment rate of 17.5 percent. The three neighboring counties have jobless rates ranging from 17 to 19.8 percent. People there didn't want to hear a lot of fancy Washington talk about debt and deficits. They wanted to hear about jobs.

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